Happy Birth Day to Bec_No_Va

Today is your Day! Have a great day.

Well, Happy Birthday, Virgo! Your birthday shouldn't be too difficult to remember. Here's something green to go with your birthstone.

Have a great day, but if you do spend it at the DMV, try to bring a book.

Have a good one!!!! I hope nothing 'bugs' you today!!

Thank you guys - DH is taking me for a spot of British tea this afternoon!

Wow! It's birthday week! Happy birthday, Bec!!!

Where do you find spots of British tea in PW? I have a friend who spends several months in the UK every year and she used to have me over for afternoon tea. She got me totally hooked on eensy little puff pastry piecrusts filled with lemon curd.

Hope you have a wonderful day.

British Tea is served in Aldie - there is a great British store there - lemon curd 'an all!

Yummy yum yum, please have a fruit scone with butter, jam and cream and a nice strong cuppa cha to wash it down.

Makes me want to throw a High Tea of me own!

Aldie, where else? LOL I actually made some lemon curd from scratch last Christmas. It was even better than the jarred stuff and very easy.

Oh, yeah. Scones. My friend used to also make some kind of flat raspberry pastry from box mixes she bought over there. And of course little cucumber sandwiches with the crust cut off.

I think we need to change this forum to the Mid Atlantic Gardening and Eating Forum. LOL

High tea is more of a meal, Wrightie, according to my friend. Kind of like a light, sandwich dinner with nibblies.

Hope your day is extra special!

Hi there, Hart. High Tea does indeed include lots of pastries, sandwiches, cakes, tea ... and spirits sometimes, too! My hubbie is English and we lived in the UK for a while. We were in England for a month or so back in May, so I stocked up on lots of pantry items. Mmmmmm, I need to make a fruit crumble.

Edited to add: "Tea" on the other hand, is usually used to describe the meal that you have in the evening. (AKA supper or dinner in the US, depending upon your family). "Pudding" = dessert; Supper = a late night snack; a "cuppa tea" is the hot drink; British English is fun to try to wrap your head around.

You just cannot beat homemade lemon curd. Another good one is lime curd, served next to a bowl of fresh ripe strawberries for dipping. Killer Kombination.

Bec, be sure to tell us everything that you ate! I garden to Eat!

This message was edited Aug 25, 2007 2:32 PM

My friend and her husband really planned on moving to England permanently after he retired. About that time, however, her mother became very ill and they ended up moving to Charleston. They now spend about half the year here and half the year over there.

I've been trying for years to get her to write a book about her travels all over the UK. This includes the time she was rooting around looking for a lost holy well and found it when her leg went through up to her hip the brush and dirt and whatever else was covering it.

In addition to the goodies, she used to always bring me back the most wonderful lavender things from some place that raised lavender and made all kinds of soaps and lotions and tussy mussies out of it. It was a very sweet lavender, much sweeter scented than the hardy stuff I grow here. French lavender, which won't survive my winters, I suppose.

Happy, Happy, Great BIG Birthday wish for you.
Sounds like you have a great day planned enjoy your day and hopefully you won't need to go down to the DMV. LOL

Happy Birthday to you Bec! Enjoy your tea time and have a great day!

Hope you're enjoying your tea!!! You going for Pina Coladas tonight?

Thanks one 'an all! Had a wonderful afternoon tea - we shared a "regular" tea and a savory one - flushed down with a gallon of earl gray!
I am still in the process of teaching DH the "proper" way of having tea - start off with the savory items ("banger rolls" YUMMY), continue with scones (shoulda seen him with clotted cream and jam!!) and then go on to the biscuits - which are cookies in "US speak" - as always hit the store afterward - had to stock up on goodies - OXO cubes etc. My mixed heritage is Norwegian and British - lived in both countries so it is the "small" stuff I miss - real "bangers" - pork pies - pasties etc. The first few years in the US I had no access to anything European - one, I lived in MT, two - no internet - but, the world has become amazingly small and now I manage to get hold of the three foods I love more than anything, Norwegian, British and German - and with easy access to Dulles and cheap tickets to Europe, what more can a gal wish for! I work to be able to garden, eat and travel! :-)

Almost missed this!

Hope your day was happy and grand!

May the end of your birthday be blessed with the much needed rains... we sure are gettin' it down here tonight!

Yay!!!

Boy I've missed all the birthdays! Sorry Becky, Happy Belated :)))

Belated Birthday Wishes from me too... you're still celebrating, right? :-)

All this talk of tea... that does it... I definitely need to throw another midwinter tea party!

Oh man...now I feel like a heal...missing my wife's birthday...On second thought, maybe I don't want to go there again. ;-)

Happy B-Day!! I hope you and your real DH had a wonderful day.

- Brent

LOL - thank you virtual hubby of mine! :-)

Yes, real hubby and I had a great time - Critter - your idea of a mid-winter tea is a great one!

Becky, I threw one 2 years ago in honor of Howie and Kimberly (Gardenwife), and even with an ice storm that kept some folks away, we had a grand time! I'll see how things shape up this winter -- it would be fun to do again! And there's just something fun about making "fancy" little tea goodies and breaking out the "pretty" china.

Late as ever I am. HBD!